This last week, I watched all of Mad Men, Season One. Paul set a TiVO season pass for the marathon last weekend, and I adore it. The show is sheer genius. I get a kick out of the agency talk – I did, after all, work for DDB for a year – and I am always amazed by how perfect the period settings are, down to the last item of decor, or the clothing on the housewives, or the volume of cigarettes smoked. But mostly, I’m addicted to the depth of the characters and the storylines. It’s a brilliant show, and even I, with my short attention span, was hooked for all thirteen Season One episodes inside of three days.
I also managed to download the CBC’s jPod from the iTunes store. I couldn’t stream full episodes from the CBC website because of my US based IP address, and it was too late in the season to hijack Dad’s TiVO into a Season Pass using the TiVO website. But I DID manage to use a Canadian credit card to buy the whole season for download on iTunes. And even with CBC budgets (it looks like they spent about $20 per episode), I’m happy with the adaptation, and Paul and I are both totally into the show. The storylines and characters that were added beyond the original book fit in. And, of course, I love seeing a show that is just so Vancouver. Reading Coupland’s books always makes me feel like I’m back in BC, and watching jPod gives me the same sense of being back home. I miss Vancouver, a lot, so seeing a scene shot in Stanley Park, or stock footage of Coal Harbour or even just the quality of the light in the background, filtered through all those clouds and trees, makes me happy.
I’m going to run to the grocery store now. Supplies need to be picked up for the coming week, while I have Paul to watch Ben. Time to hit Trader Joe’s.
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